Better school capacity accuracy proposed

In Anne Arundel classrooms, students learn that 1-1=0.

But when county planning and school system officials calculate students being transferred among schools, the equation is 1-1=1.

To correct the math, county officials are bringing back a plan to address the skewed the accuracy of school capacity in Anne Arundel.

“We’re now doing the addition and subtraction based on reality,” said County Councilman Ron Dillon Jr., R-Pasadena, co-sponsor the bill before the council.

Dillon and Councilman Jamie Benoit, D-Crownsville, first developed a bill that would expand the capacity rating beyond 100 percent, as well as remove the double counting of transfer students. But the bill did not find support, and it was pulled.

The new bill is simpler: It focuses on the double counting and using more up-to-date population data from the state, Dillon said.

For years, students who transfer between schools were counted both at the school they moved from and the one they now attend in the event that the student returned to their first school.

That rarely happens, school officials said.

By not double counting the transfer students and using new population data from the Maryland Department of Planning, planners have a better fix on how many open seats there really are in each school, officials said.

“We fully support this move, and it will be much more user friendly,” said Alex Szachnowicz, director of school facilities.

The number of open seats determine if a school or a feeder system is “open” or “closed” to new housing developments.

If a school is at capacity, the community it serves is “closed” to any new houses.

“This will eliminate the cause of concern,” Szachnowicz said.

Under the new proposal, 10 schools that are open to new development will be closed, and 13 schools closed to new development will be opened.

The chart that says which schools are open and closed originally belonged to the school system, but the County Council took it over after the chart’s accuracy was challenged in court.

Home builders say the bill moves the county — finally — in the right direction.

“I think it’s a good idea to fix the dysfunctional nature of the charts and get them delivered,” said Susan Stroud, government affairs director for the Maryland Homebuilders Association.

Current open schools that would be closed: